First Friday
Nov. 1 — Welcome to November and a busy weekend of events, including the Fall-O-Ween festival at The Home Depot Backyard tonight, and both the Cabbagetown Chomp & Stomp and Día de los Muertos Festival on Saturday. And, enjoy the extra hour of sleep, as daylight saving time ends on Sunday at 2 a.m.
☁️ Cloudy and 79° today. The weekend is looking cloudy and dry, with highs in the upper 70s.
🗳️ Today is the last day of early voting in Georgia, and you can find a location here. So far, nearly 3.5 million residents have cast ballots.
⚖️ Atlanta rapper Young Thug was released from jail after pleading guilty to gang, drug, and weapons charges, receiving a 15-year probation sentence. He had spent 2½ years in custody during Georgia’s longest criminal trial.
🔎 Sandy Springs Police are looking for a person of interest in the shooting of a woman at a hotel on Wednesday night.
💻 Fulton County Schools is installing internet monitoring software on devices issued to students. DeKalb and Atlanta Public Schools are already doing so.
🛒 Trader Joe’s opens its second Sandy Springs location at Chastain Market this morning.
💰 Nonprofit City of Refuge celebrated a year of milestones while raising $1.1 million to support local residents in need of assistance.
⚖️ UGA Law School named Usha Rodrigues as its next dean. A corporate law expert who joined the faculty in 2005, she will succeed Peter B. “Bo” Rutledge after his 10-year tenure.
📚 New York Times bestselling author Emily Giffin opens the 33rd edition of the Book Festival of the MJCCA tomorrow at 8 p.m., and Dr. Anthony Fauci speaks on Sunday at 8 p.m.
ELSEWHERE
🇪🇸 Flash floods devastated eastern Spain killing 158 people, including 155 in Valencia, where emergency crews and military personnel continue searching flooded communities for survivors.
📉 Wall Street had its worst day since September as disappointing tech earnings from Microsoft and Meta sparked a broad selloff.
🕖 Here’s what’s in today’s newsletter:
• Michelin Guide reactions
• Film Review: ‘Anora’
• The Sports Section
• Top Stories of the Week
AND
• A new, daily word game from Rough Draft
Have a good weekend,
Collin & Sammie
🔮 Experience Atlanta’s inaugural Jewish Storytelling Festival Nov. 16-17. Join master storytellers weaving tales that connect generations through shared Jewish experiences. A weekend of inspiration and tradition. Get tickets and info here. SPONSOR MESSAGE
1. Rough Draft readers have strong opinions about the 2024 Atlanta Michelin Guide
⭐ Michelin revealed its 2024 Atlanta dining guide on Oct. 28 and included a handful of OTP restaurants among the newcomers.
All 2023 restaurants retained their status for 2024, with 12 new restaurants joining the guide, including four new one-star restaurants. That brings the total number of Atlanta restaurants with one star to nine! (Spring in Marietta is the lone restaurant outside the Perimeter receiving one star.)
Rough Draft readers offered up strong opinions about the restaurants they feel Michelin snubbed this year. We compiled some of your thoughts about the guide and what restaurants missed out.
Holiday safety for dogs: Tips and tricks for pet parents
SPONSORED BY SCENTHOUND
🐾 The holidays mean eating, drinking, and being merry with friends and family, but nothing can spoil holiday cheer like an emergency visit to the vet. People food, holiday gatherings, and holiday travel can all be challenging for our pups.
These tips can help prevent a holiday disaster for you and your pup.
Discover the Scenthound difference at our Buckhead, Dunwoody, and Tucker locations.
🐾 Scenthound is a wellness-focused, membership-based service providing hygiene essentials and grooming for your dog.
2. ‘Anora’ is the anti-‘Pretty Woman’ for a new generation
WEEKLY FILM REVIEW | BY SAMMIE PURCELL
💍 The titular character of Sean Baker’s “Anora” is a 23-year-old stripper who spends seven nights a week working the room at a Manhattan club – and boy, is she good at working the room.
Ani (Mikey Madison) is all about attitude. Her job depends on her ability to posture, to make people like her, and to hold her own through it all. Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn) – the 21-year-old son of a Russian oligarch – is also all about posturing. When Ivan (Vanya, to his friends) comes to the club one night, Ani – the only girl who speaks Russian – is sent to entertain him. They take a liking to each other. Maybe this transaction could turn into something more.
What follows is a movie that’s half “Pretty Woman” (complete with a direct reference to the negotiation scene between Julia Roberts and Richard Gere) and half grimy crime caper. Baker, who wrote, directed, and edited Anora, has long been interested in people living on the outskirts, and sex work in particular has played an important role in his films, from “Tangerine” to “Red Rocket.” “Anora” continues that tradition and magnifies it, throwing our main character into a lavish fairytale that slowly deteriorates as she comes to grips with the cruelty that wealth and power can bring.
💸 Click here to read Sammie’s review.
🍿 Stay in the picture with Scene by Rough Draft, our weekly newsletter about Georgia’s film industry. Subscribe for free.
3. Atlanta United must-win vs. Messi; NYC Marathon
BY JIM BASS
♂️ The Sports Section is Sponsored by Gameday Men’s Health Buckhead, offering testosterone, weight loss, peptide, and ED therapies so you can get back in the game. Learn more today!
⚽ Atlanta United hosts a must-win Game 2 of the best-of-three series against Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami on Saturday at 7 p.m. (Apple TV+; 92.9 FM). The match is expected to draw 70,000 people to Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
⚾ The Dodgers won the World Series in New York Wednesday night after beating the Yankees in a best-of-seven series 4-1. The victory marks the Dodgers’ eighth World Series title. The parade will begin today at 11 a.m. at Los Angeles City Hall.
🎙️ Legendary broadcaster Bob Costas is retiring from baseball play-by-play after 42 seasons.
🏃 The TCS New York City marathon begins Sunday at 8 a.m. The iconic marathon, which weaves through all five boroughs, began in 1970 with 127 participants and had 51,402 finishers last year.
🏈 Here are tomorrow’s local college games:
- No. 2 Georgia plays Florida in Jacksonville, FL at 3:30 p.m. (ABC; 95.5 FM).
- Clark Atlanta hosts Tuskegee at 1 p.m. (ESPN+).
- West Georgia hosts Lincoln at 2 p.m. (ESPN+).
- Mercer hosts East Tennessee State at 3 p.m. (ESPN+).
- Morehouse College plays at Miles College at 5 p.m. (ESPN+).
- Georgia Southern plays at South Alabama at 7:30 p.m. (ESPNU).
- Georgia State plays at UConn tonight at 7 p.m. (Fubo).
- Kennesaw State lost 31-14 at Western Kentucky on Wednesday.
- Georgia Tech is off this week.
🏈 The Falcons face the Cowboys in Atlanta on Sunday at 1 p.m. (FOX; 92.9 FM).
🏈 The Drive for the GHSA State Title continues tonight with Prince Avenue Christian vs. Hebron Christian, live on the Peachtree Sports Network at 8 p.m. Stream the game here.
🏀 The Hawks host the Kings tonight at 7:30 p.m. (FanDuel Sports Network; 92.9 FM).
4. Top Stories of the Week
A look back at this week’s most-read stories from our website. Follow @RoughDraftATL on Instagram for regular updates.
① 2024 Michelin Guide to Atlanta drops (pictured)
② 30-acre Buckhead property to be preserved as park
③ Four Seasons gunman identified as resident having ‘mental health incident’
④ Atlanta City Council special election: A look at the candidates and their priorities
⑤ Trump returns to Georgia, blasts Harris at Georgia Tech rally
🔮 Experience Atlanta’s inaugural Jewish Storytelling Festival Nov. 16-17. Join master storytellers weaving tales that connect generations through shared Jewish experiences. A weekend of inspiration and tradition. Get tickets and info here. SPONSOR MESSAGE
5. Introducing News Word Atlanta
🔠 Rough Draft is proud to be the first local media company to offer a daily word game that rivals what many of us have become addicted to from a large national media outlet in The Big Apple.
With News Word Atlanta, you’ll have six chances to guess a five-letter word from today’s news coverage.
➡ Let us know what you think and get ready to play daily via Rough Draft!
📌 Click here to play today’s puzzle.
👋 Do you have a friend who would enjoy Rough Draft? Send them today’s newsletter and encourage them to subscribe!
📧 Today’s newsletter was edited by Julie E. Bloemeke.
